dnk

Yes, it's up to mission designers to create that balance or squad leaders to avoid unbalancing situations in more sandbox style missions (Insurgency, Dom). The game serves to create a base of realism for the community to work off of.

Basically, the entire OFP/ArmA series is one in which active admins, whitelists, and passwords are absolutely necessary. You CAN fix hacking for the most part (see many DayZ servers - I play on servers that regularly see over 40 players at a time with very, very minimal hacking by any MP standard) even when hackers have a much larger incentive to hack (see DayZ) than in run-of-the-mill MP/COOP. Servers shouldn't be treated like "set it up as a totally open, public server and leave it alone". You need to build communities around good servers, and part of that is building a website and creating a whitelist. I think it's better this way as it does create a sense of community, especially when said websites have forums and plenty of communication between admins and players. And that's what sets ArmA apart from other FPSes, the far more active community. This is somewhat of an excuse/apology for poor hacking controls, but most every MP game I've played has hacking issues. They are worse in ArmA due to the power the hackers can bring to bear through scripts, but since this is a game that has historically been geared towards COOPERATIVE play, giving power to mission makers and mod makers has trumped protecting PvP players (and they DO have the tools to protect their servers, but most choose to eschew them for weak reasoning). Generally, Domination, Insurgency, and single missions are the norm for MP servers (currently, A2 has a lot heavier PvP than normal over the last few years due to the influx of DayZ players), with Warfare and others traditionally taking a back seat - perhaps this is changing now with ArmA's higher status in the FPS community, but a lot of that PvP play is going to be channeled into the DayZ standalone likely, for which players would have much more cause for complaint over hacking. A 3D editor would have no bearing. setpos and other commands are NEEDED for proper scripting. How can you dynamically create and move objects without such scripts? A 3D editor only would help in the original placement, and that can already be done in the 2D without scripting (usually).

Yeah, that's the exact irrationality of the current system, and this solution is so simple and so problem-fixing and so non-performance-ruining that it's amazing it hasn't been thought of before. It's really like they took the very lowest of all grass models to decide where to set the "sinking", which is the direct opposite of how they should've approached things given that over enough distance the tallest regular grass will decide the concealment (unless looking down angle, hence my suggestion). ---------- Post added at 09:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:18 AM ---------- The basics: as soon as a player moves beyond the grass draw distance, the alpha starts to be applied. The texture is set, let's say, to a 250x1000px one, with considerable black space below the "grass" (simulating total concealment) and white space above that textured part (simulating total transparency). The texture height in relation to model height is such that shifting the image up by 250px would leave the model almost totally visible, while shifting it down by 250px would leave it almost totally concealed (while standing). From this we can first shrink or expand the image in the vertical direction only depending on type of vegetation. Normal vegetation = 100% size; low vegetation = 50% size; none = no alpha applied; high vegetation = 200% size. This has the result that the "grass" portion of the alpha image shrinks, though the texture has large enough black/white space to accommodate full reveal/camouflage. Next, we shrink both dimensions based on distance from the observer. I'm not sure exactly how this works out, but the math will be simple. Finally, we adjust the dimensions based on the player's FOV. Higher FOV = greater shrinkage. On to the angular adjustment... Then we find the angle of the terrain tile under the feet of the subject (observed model) along the direction of view of the observer. Downward in the direction of the observer makes a negative number. Ranges from -90 to +90 (degrees). This is relative to horizontal. Then we find the angle between the eyes of the observer and the feet of the observed (relative to horizontal). Also ranges from -90 to +90. Now we take the pre-adjusted texture (from vegetation height, distance, FOV) and adjust it this way: [center point height of image] = [pre-adjustment height] x -( ( sin( [angle of terrain] + [angle of viewer] ) ) x 0.25 ) So, looking at my 3 original situations in my other post, the first image comes out to an adjustment of +6% (a modest increase in visibility). The second comes out to +17% (a strong increase in visibility). The third comes out to -17% (a strong decrease in visibility). Remember that -25% or +25% center point height equals total concealment and total visibility. This also works such that looking directly down at someone standing on a grassy cliff (in theory) would have the same effect as looking directly at someone standing on level grassy terrain, while looking down 45 degrees at someone standing on a 45 degree hillside (on your side) would be the same as looking directly down at someone from the sky. Perhaps that's not 100% realistic, but simply adjusting where the "grass" part of the texture stops on the upper side would ensure that there would be some base minimum amount of coverage for such scenarios. I'll also add that computationally this shouldn't be very taxing at all to do for many models (perhaps even including buildings, trees, cars, etc), and could totally replace the current idiotic "sinking" method that's been around since the 90s.

This is such a necessary improvement to the current long-distance draw method. It's been severely broken since ArmA (OFP maybe, I forget). There are 2 basic issues: 1. The "sinking" method doesn't actually sink far enough. Laying prone in waist-high grass results in no more than 10" of concealment...? I know from experience I can lay down in waist high grass and be ~100% concealed from people actively trying to find me. 2. Even then, models are super easy to pick out in binoculars/scopes because of the sharp contrast between vague, low-res land texture and the blocky, high-res models. My only suggestion is to alter how the alpha is drawn depending on the angle of the terrain in relation to the player. What I mean by that is if the player is looking at a soldier who is lying on ground that is perfectly parallel to the player's eyesight, there should be a very high level of concealment (total) in anything other than well-trimmed lawn grass. You know, you can't see models more than 30m out when the full grass is being drawn, why can you see half of them at 500m? On the other hand, if you're looking down at someone, the angle is negative, and then the grass alpha should be drawn less. I imagine there's a very easy math equation you can use to adjust the relative height of the alpha texture on the model. http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr181/davidk594/alphas_zps3541c546.jpg (178 kB) Edit: I totally agree with NordKindchen that ghillies should be basically invisible. You could use the stock texture you provided and just add 50% height (through my adjustment system): there would be a very little bit of the model showing in some instances, and in hard rocky ground, most of it would show, but in most cases it would be effectively total concealment (as it should be).

(Updated 8/6/2012) v0.965 Last thread got lost or something. http://www.mediafire.com/?strewmk34sbp33j (unpbo'd folder for anyone wanting to edit variables easily) http://www.mediafire.com/?s3zknrt7opzxnvs A Chernarus version that is very unfinished (and a bit different) with a STALKER flavor - will not be further developed so enjoy if you like. http://www.mediafire.com/?nok59v7ndarbp42 SUMMARY This is a dynamic and random zombie simulation on FDF's Podagorsk. It is based off of the Undead Mod by Charon. Currently, it is mostly a large sandbox styled SP mission. Zombie groups of varying makeup will spawn randomly throughout southern Podagorsk, as well as marauding bands of civilian resistance, local militia fighters, and Russian special forces. You are not alone, however, as you start with your hunting buddy. As foreigners in this area, however, you might as well be zombies as far as the other humans are concerned. There are some Western blackops teams at work, though, so perhaps you can find and join one of their teams. The goal (for now) is to simply survive as long as you can and get off the peninsula. If you want, you can search each "danger zone" for a radio operator. Pick up important reports off of each. Once you have found all 5 operators, you will be eligible for extraction. Check the map for the location. Go there, call in a helicopter, and escape. You will need to overcome hundreds of zombies and armed humans, not to mention your own basic needs of thirst and hunger. FEATURES Dynamic zombie/opfor/blufor spawns throughout southern Podagorsk that change between night/day and shift randomly in number throughout both periods. Dynamic and randomized city zombie spawns when in range of a major area. Dynamic weather system that changes its probabilities throughout the day. Fog system that settles in at night (from Fog Script by Rockhount). Health FX system for deteriorated health. Sleeping bag. 150+ random ammo crate spawns throughout the map (look in houses/backyards/buildings), each with randomized sets of weapons/supplies. Hunger and thirst systems. Sleep ability (includes healing). Radio options. Heavily customizable and commented init.sqf variables for those so inclined. Randomized start. Survivalist approach. Fuel siphoning for use in vehicles. Ramping up of difficulty over 60 minutes. REQUIREMENTS Desert Mercs and Blackops by SchnapsdroSel http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=6471&highlight=DESERT%2BMERCENARIES The Undead Mod by Charon http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=9207&highlight=THE%2BUNDEAD%2BMOD FDF Podagorsk, of course! http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=8791&highlight=PODAGORSK EXPLANATION NEW FEATURES - difficulty ramping needs feedback CURRENT BUGS - savegames not loading (they used to) KNOWN GLITCHES - There was a random crash due to "out of memory" after a few hours of gameplay once (unwilling to fix an isolated issue) - A civ OPFOR squad was seen without weapons once (unwilling to fix an isolated issue) - Squad members get stuck in a position sometimes and won't move (unrelated to mission?) - gas station refueling cannot be stopped, and the workaround script is a bit clunky for the user experience

Note that a Chernarus version is now available, though it is fairly incomplete and unlikely to be further developed. Mission updated (same link in OP) v0.965 - 8/6/2012 - altered gas station script as the previous one was not working fully. Now cars will refuel at the station, but driving them away will return the amount to as it was before. Still can be exploited in a way, but it's more difficult now. - removed fuel actions for dead vehicles - switched spawn rates for day/night for zombies as they were backwards - changed ramping up of zed/opfor difficulty to 50-115. Before it was way too low due to an error. - moved the ramping script 3 seconds earlier in the starting script sequence so it would run before the initial zombie limits were set and initial creature spawns occured. Before, it was not, so at the start full spawn rates were occuring. - moved a few possible radio operator locations to avoid clipping through objects and being near impossible to find therefore - reduced starting backpack loadout for less water/food - fixed the starting script that set fuel/damage for all vehicles. It was broken before, resulting in fully fueled or full health cars

I see. Yeah, I don't play with the HUD on or anything so I wasn't aware of that being so confusing. I might just move all the markers off to the edge of the map to avoid this confusion for anyone else.

Hmmm... do note that the marker is just set dead-center in the "danger zone" for each city. You need to pay attention to the gridref given in the task, not the marker. Sorry if that was confusing. I can't open the save for some reason, so just see if that was the problem.Eh, small update release pending. Noticed something incorrect in the new ramping script (see below). @Behemeth... Water in towns: look for the wells on the map. It should be nearby, but it's not guaranteed. The random stockpiles throughout the world have a high chance of water also. They can usually be found inside buildings or near settlements (and in towns). These are not only found on the ground, but on many floors. Usually "barns" have them (though their appearance is random and I think 25% iirc). For hunger, there are always the boars. The problem with region-dependent weaponry is that the region you start in is randomized - part of the fun of survival is not quite knowing where you are even, I think. Yeah, after playing the map so many times it gets easier to guess and sometimes it's obvious, but even I don't know where I am half the time without doing some good scouting first. Besides, this sort of leveling up has been included in the most recent release, in a way. The OPFOR squads will start off a lot easier, then scale up to being mostly spetznaz within 65 minutes of gameplay. Unpack the PBO and You can edit how long they take to scale up and where they start at in ramp.sqf if you dislike it currently. To increase the time taken to level up to full, alter spawnmod = spawnmod + 0.01; 0.02 will make it happen twice as fast, though you will also need to alter the (these have been edited since current release): zombiediff = zombiediff + 1.0; opfordiff = opfordiff + 1.0; Amounts inversely, so up to 2.0 if you set the previous one to 0.02, else they will only level up to half the amount as before. If you want the OPFOR to level up slower, do it the other way around (decrease the spawnmod number). If you want OPFOR to level up to a lower amount within the same amount of time (less spetznaz), set opfordiff to something between 0 and 1. Keep in mind that the starting amount is 50 (set in init.sqf), and that a value of 100 total would result in roughly a 60% spetznaz mix, with a value of 150 being about 70-75% spetznaz. Similar values for zombies and "fast zombies" for zombiediff. There is no armor on the map, nor RPGs. @kiberkiller.... Regarding Chernarus: I actually started this mod on Chernarus, and have a very half-done, STALKER-flavored version mission done for about 20% of the map, including anomalies and blowouts and some less random elements (some of this I'm considering adding as an optional version of this mod). I gave up on it for the simple reason that it would take a ridiculous amount of time to finish for the full map. It might go faster this time around if I added no new scripts and just copied everything over and made a "copy mod" of Podagorsk, but with ArmA3 around the corner, I'll wait for that new map to do this on again ;) Placing all those markers takes quite a lot of hours. ---------- Post added at 12:27 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:05 AM ---------- http://www.mediafire.com/?nok59v7ndarbp42 The Chernarus version - very undone, but with some different content. I believe some of the missions are broken as are some other things I was in the middle of when I quit on it. Check the diary/tasks for what to do, but it's sort of the same minus the radio operators. Oh, the actors are stock also. So, yeah, I guess the chances are good :)

For the radio operator, can you send me a savegame? They can be quite tricky to find, but it shouldn't take 1 hour either. I'll look it over. I've not noticed problems with this before, but perhaps there is one here.I'll consider adding a script to remove the fuel script from cars with health under the "dead" threshold. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

http://www.mediafire.com/?p9blbeu6665d23p http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr181/davidk594/skymodexamples.jpg (280 kB) SUMMARY This is a fairly simple edit of the stock BIS sky system. I removed the hideous "low clouds" (which will allow you to use skiptime without that glaring skipping issue in the clouds), and found that the cloudy skies they constantly block from view are actually quite beautiful. So, I kept those and edited them a bit to smooth out some bits and make them look more like rain clouds (imo). I also edited the horizons to be much darker. I felt that you couldn't get a really "dark/overcast" feel with the stock skies because the horizons were always SO bright, so now they aren't. I added a pure gray sky for the rainiest of weather conditions, although in hindsight it's not the best addition. There are issues with this, but I made it for myself and I don't mind the issues, and I can't find a way around them anyway, so I hope you can deal with them also :) This is a beta release due to the issues (the gray sky isn't quite right; the horizons get messed up if you're using a horizonless map; the sun still casts strong shadows even when occluded). But I don't intend to release a final, so this is as final as it gets unless there's a strong desire to fix it (if possible).

1. The key-making program (DSC) isn't working on my computer so I can't make keys, but anyone is welcomed to try and post it here. 2. The clouds don't move. That was an effect created by the lowclouds, the removal of which was part of the mod. If you watch during an unmodded game, you'll see that the underlying cloud textures don't move, just some low-res dark 2D transparent texture that gets drawn over them. It's psychology or something. 3. Since the clouds don't move in this mod, I doubt synching will be an issue. I believe the weather in general is not 1:1 synched, just the basic parameters (fog, rain, wind), so the game seems to be a bit random as to when specifically it rains and lightning strikes. I may be wrong, but I believe the actual raining state is client-side and slightly random (so, unsynched), much like the random animal life. Regardless, it won't be an issue. 4. It shouldn't affect the FPS. Maybe if the files are that much larger than the originals - they might be. I didn't bother to check. Still, I doubt it would make a big difference since the files aren't that large. By comparison, I know from modding Stalker's skies that significantly larger textures can definitely have a negative impact, but Stalker uses WAY more files overall for its skies, so we're talking the difference between 40MB total or 150MB total, and here the files are 6MB total, so I doubt it will be any issue. Maybe 1-2FPS. I didn't check this either.

Yeah, I need to talk to Armaholic. I didn't even know they posted that, so I'll go ask for a redo. There were a few quick updates to the mod since submitting that to fix the issue and tweak some values.

(link is forthcoming) SUMMARY This is a dynamic and random zombie simulation on FDF's Podagorsk. It is based off of the Undead Mod by Charon. Currently, it is mostly a large sandbox styled SP mission, but in the future it may become more structured, something along the lines of the STALKER series (but I'm likely done with development now). Zombie groups of varying composition will spawn randomly throughout southern Podagorsk, as well as marauding bands of civilian resistance, local militia fighters, and Russian special forces. You are not alone, however, as you start with your hunting buddy. As foreigners in this area, however, you might as well be zombies as far as the other humans are concerned. There are some Western blackops teams at work, though, so perhaps you can find and join one of their teams (the black camo'd guys with armalites). The goal (for now) is to simply survive as long as you can and get off the peninsula. If you want, you can search each "danger zone" for a radio operator. Pick up important reports off of each. Once you have found all 5 operators, you will be eligible for extraction. Check the map for the location. Go there, call in a helicopter, and escape. You will need to overcome hundreds of zombies and armed humans, not to mention your own basic needs of thirst and hunger. FEATURES Dynamic zombie/opfor/blufor spawns throughout southern Podagorsk that change between night/day and shift randomly in number throughout both periods. Dynamic and randomized city zombie spawns when in range of a major area. Dynamic weather system that changes its probabilities throughout the day. Fog system that settles in at night (from Fog Script by Rockhount). Health FX system for deteriorated health. Sleeping bag. 100+ random ammo crate spawns throughout the map (look in houses/backyards/buildings), each with randomized sets of weapons/supplies. Hunger and thirst systems. Sleep ability (includes healing). Radio options. Heavily customizable and commented init.sqf variables for those so inclined to personalize their experience. Randomized starting location and time. Survivalist approach. Fuel siphoning for use in vehicles. EXPLANATION The primary goal of this mod is realistic survival fun mixed with high replayability. For the second point, heavy randomnization and dynamism mean that each time you restart, things should play out much differently. You can approach the scenario in different ways as well, and the ability to recruit other blufor units to your group (if their group is equal in size or smaller than yours) means you can amass a small army if you want. You will start with a hunting rifle, a pistol, a watch, food and water (M203 rounds), and some simple tasks. You can progress through weaponry, although finding good weapons can be difficult. Optics are very hard to come by, and THERE ARE NO NVGOGGLES ANYWHERE. Good luck at night... Your first priorities should be to find better weapons, a radio, and a map, unless you start after 3:30PM, then your first priority is to find somewhere to sleep. This can be a challenge with many starts... The last two (maps and radios) will only be found on dead opfor/blufor, and the first generally are found there also, so walking towards the gunfire is generally a sure bet if you're lost. With a radio, you can ask your teammates for more accurate enemy locations (0-0-1), and you can call in to the other blufor squads (0-0-2) to find their current whereabouts. The map is also absolutely essential in finding the missing radio operators, as each task notes where their last gridref was. Once you have this set, you can start building up your assets, finding better weapons and binoculars, fueling up a car, and taking on the radio operator tasks. FUEL: For the fuel siphoning simulation: you can walk up to any vehicle and select "siphon fuel" in the action menu. This will take up to "1 gallon" (10% of a car's tank) out of the vehicle, depending on how much fuel it has and how full your canister is already. Each vehicle starts with a random amount of fuel between 0 and 5% of its tank. Each vehicle also starts with a random damage amount between 0 and 90%. When you take fuel out or add fuel to a vehicle, there is a modifier for each vehicle type. Cars are 100% normal, whereas pickups will have 200% as much gas in them for the fuel tank size and will take only 50% of the fuel you normally add to them. This is meant to simulate "fuel economy", as pickups and cars in the normal game normally lose gas at the same rate. Now, pickups have "50% economy" compared to cars. Buses and trucks actually lose gas at half the rate of cars, so God knows what BIS was thinking when they modeled this (buses have larger fuel tanks?). The breakdown for this mod is: cars = 100% economy; hatchbacks = 112-125%; pickups = 40-50%; sedans = 80-90%; buses = 30%; boats = 15%; trucks = 20-25%; old motos = 170%; motorcycles = 200%. So, yeah, get a motorcycle or hatchback if you want to conserve gas (and you do). Generally speaking, 10% of a tank should get you about a third of the way across the island east-west-wise. Oh, gas stations don't work, so don't try. I made a neat little workaround for those, so your vehicle should never refill at one, even if it says it is. Waiting there for 3 minutes won't make the bar go up, but you can try, maybe it will after 10 minutes? CRATES: For "hidden crates": there are about 150 of these scattered throughout the map. Each has a 20-33% probability of existence. They tend to be in or around buildings, with tons inside of cities. While antidote cases will always be in the same places, all other ammo crates will have their loadouts varied at the map start. They can be "food supplies" (40% prob), food and water; "civilian arms" (40% prob), like hunting rifles, handguns, and shotguns; "militia arms" (15% prob) like AK74s, AK47s, VSSs, shotguns, grenades, and handguns; or "Russian arms" (5% prob), like ak107s, PKs, AK74s, grenades, and handguns. Each box is further randomized with 2-3 guns from their flavor, with random ammunition amounts for each gun. EXTRAS: You have a sleeping bag for fun. It has no purpose other than immersion. Unpack it and repack it at will. If you forget to repack it, well, go back and get it, you only get one. You can make a campfire anywhere you like. You can also make a trench anywhere you like. Use the action menu. If you have a radio, you can ask your teammates for the nearest enemy that they know about. They will tell you the mapgrid and distance (rounded to the nearest 25m). You can also ask the other blufor teams their map grid locations. You can also call for extraction. Radios are nice. Maps, too. You can ask your squad if they are infected at any time you wish without a radio. You have a lot of time to cure an infection, so don't fret if one is. Look for silver suitcases, they have the antidote. If you get a GPS unit, you can see where all the groups are around you, so long as the groups have at least 3 members (in towns, you will not be able to see all the zombies, as each is its own 1-zed group). You can always see blufor groups, even if they have only 1 member. BLUFOR:blufor squads spawn dynamically within the AIdist from the player (1300m now). Size is 3-8 members. There is a 17% chance of a squad containing a sniper, otherwise the units are random typical blufor (blackops and woods mercs) with shotguns, m249s, or M4s. Once created, the squad will be given a random waypoint route that generally goes to interesting places, then cycles back. They should go through about 8 different places before cycling back to the start. Opfor does the same. Zombies also, but they go just about anywhere, being that they're stupid. You can join a blufor group by walking up to a group member and asking in the action menu to join them or to have them join you. You may need to wait some time before the option pops up, as having your computer do constant distance checks with all blufor units eats up a bit of performance (similar reasons underlie long script cycling throughout the mod). Once you join, you alone may leave the squad if you want. If the squad is the same size as yours or smaller, you can ask them to join you instead. FOOD/WATER: You need both to survive. As your health decreases, you need up to 2x more actually, so stay healthy! If your hunger is over 10%, you will start to see messages in the top right corner every so often. If it gets to 30%, you'll see that you're "famished". If it gets to 50%, you're "Starving!", and hey now you're slowly dying also (at a very slow rate, but it will hurt you progressively worse as you get hungrier). At 80%, you're "Starving to death!", best to eat something, eh. Still, you should be able to last a few virtual days before starving to death. Eating a meal replenishes your hunger by 8.5%. It's set so you should have to eat about 2.5x per day. While sleeping, you don't get hungry as fast. Drinking is similar: messages appear at 15%, 40%, 60%, and 80% instead. You will die of thirst a lot faster, though, and the rate of death gets faster as you get thirstier. Did I mention that the less healthy you are, the thirstier you get also? Don't worry, though, water is pretty commonly available in hidden crates, and there's a 50% chance that each major town will have a crate full of water in a "central water location". It's unlikely you'll ever die of thirst, although hunger can dog you for most of the game. Okay, so you're thirsty? What to do about it? Where's the water bottle? Oh, right, your humble modder doesn't know how to make those, so instead you get to drink.... M203 smokeshells! Place one into your inventory, wait a few seconds (20 perhaps), and you'll get an action choice (might have to scroll down the list) to "drink". Do that! Okay. Same rules apply for eating, except with red smokeshells. Hey, I've got a yellow smokeshell, wtf? You need to cook it, that's raw boarmeat (you shot one and carved it up, didn't you?). Get a campfire going, and cook it (ON THE GROUND, NOT ABOVE IT in a structure, it doesn't work like that, God knows why). Wait a couple minutes, and you can take it off the fire and eat. HUNTING: you can hunt the wild boars. Actually, you can just walk up to one and take meat from it and kill it silently that way. You get two yellow smokeshells for your trouble (see above). Zombies don't give you meat, but hey, try sneaking up and eating one anyway. They'll appreciate the irony. FOG: it rolls in around 4:15 and rolls out around 8:30AM. It's a good hint that you need to find somewhere safe ASAP. "Hey, fog means zombie mob." It kinda rhymes... NIGHT TIME: zombies spawn like mad, and not your fun, lovable walking zombies, no, your running, screaming, sh*t your pants zombies, oh, and large packs of zombiedogs. Did I mention the lack of NVGs? Yeah, hide somewhere before the sun sets. Preferably, somewhere up stairs or a ladder, because the undead suck at those pretty badly (but not totally) (as do OPFOR). Also, opfor spawns SF troops primarily, rather than those fun, lovable civilians practice targets. Between 6:30AM and 7AM, most of the zombies will "disappear" into the mists as the sun rises. So, yeah, just hide. Or, have a lot of fun and see how long you can survive running around the woods at night. At least there's a fairly full moon... RADIO OPERATORS: find all 5 and you can extract (well, you need to go to the location and call for extraction via your action menu, but same thing. Make sure you have a radio before going to extraction, it's kind of necessary to call in for extraction, they don't have THAT good of hearing, you know). Each is in its own town, each is randomly placed somewhere (on the ground) at mission start (there are like 30 optional places for each, so don't try to memorize them). The task will tell you their gridref, so get a map, it helps A LOT. It's nigh impossible to find all 5 without that. Yeah, I've tried, and there's a reason you get the gridref now... Anyway, walk up to him and choose the "get report" action. Each is a dead USMC squad leader unit model. HEALTH: as it worsens, you will get some "fun" FX that turn things a bit redder and squigglier and blurrier. K, don't get hurt, that's an easy solution to avoiding this. But, if you do happen to get hurt, there's one option: crying. Wait, no, that's not in the scenario (yet...). Sleeping, yes, that's it. Sleep and regain your health. It's only a bit of health per hour slept, so it may take 2-3 nights to sleep off a severe injury, but it's 12.5% reduction (absolute) for 4 hours and 5% for 2 hours. If you lose the ability to walk, fear not, you needn't restart, just find a cozy spot (nearby) and sleep it off (well, if you've TOTALLY lost your legs, maybe not). SLEEP: you regain health. You aren't as hungry/thirsty when you do it. It passes the time. After waking up, you need to wait a minute or two to go back to sleep ("Yawn..."). The sleeping bag should help, but it doesn't. You also heal all your teammates. OPFOR: Like blufor, they spawn randomly at one of dozens of possible spawn locations, between 1300 and about 500m away. Each group spawns at a different location. There are 3 types: "civilians", which are civilians and have hunting rifles, AK74s, shotguns, and handguns, and group leaders have compasses; "militias", which have commanders with AK47s, maps, and radios, and otherwise spawn with AK74s, shotguns, RPKs, and AK GLs; and "Spetznaz" groups, whose commanders have everything you could ever want (including optics + GLs and GPS units), whose medics have antidotes, and which otherwise spawn with SVDs, AK74s, PKs, and AK GLs. These groups range in size from 3 to 8 members. The total number on the map will range from 10-30 usually. They have the same waypoint scheme as blufor. ZOMBIES: 3 types of groups: walkers, runners, and doggers. At night, 20% dogs, 38% runners, 42% walkers; at day, 52% walkers, 15% dogs, 23% runners. At night, the spawn number quadruples. Apologies to your computer, but it should run alright anyway. They spawn much as do OPFOR and BLUFOR, and all 3 types have their own special spawn point sets. Group sizes range from 4-12, although they've been known to congregate in much larger numbers... AI LIFE SYSTEM: they spawn within 1300m, and if they leave 1500m they die. After 30min, they are absorbed by the earth. They will live quite dynamically, and if you wander near major crossroads or open areas, you should find yourself regularly surrounded by gunfire. Shooting your gun is a surefire way to have zombies all up in your stuff, as well as opfor, so maybe try to remain unseen and unheard as much as possible... it does wonders for your survival. TOWNS: once you get within 375m of one, it triggers a zombie spawn event and also knocks down the AI distance to something that will kill off all non-nearby zombies (but opfor remains untouched). Once this is triggered, the script sleeps for 900seconds, and if you never leave the town it won't trigger again until you do and come back again (unless you sleep for 4 hours, then it can retrigger). When triggered, one of 6 scenarios will play out: nothing will happen, some zombies will spawn after a couple minutes (not next to you), many zombies will spawn after much longer (not next to you), some zombies will spawn now, more zombies will spawn now, a ton of zombies will spawn now (we haven't measured them exactly, but we believe 50 zombies is approximately 1 ton, if not quite a lot more). Generally, it's best to kill the fast ones and just keep a good distance from the throngs of walking ones. The types of zombies will be different each time, as will their spawns. Each is independent, so they won't be one large group, although again zombies like to congregate (especially around gunfire). WEATHER: it's dynamic. Its probabilities change throughout the day. In the morning, it's usually clear or cloudy, in midday, cloudy usually with a bit of rain, afternoons tend to be overcast or rainy, late afternoon is cloudy and pretty, the night is usually clear or cloudy. Highly suggest you try out my skymod, it adds to the atmosphere and you don't need to deal with jerky skiptime lowclouds. You get pretty FX for each type of weather, and this changes based on the time of day as well. OTHER: you start randomly, at a random place and time of day. BETA STUFF: As this release is beta, I have included a script that will tell you the number of zombies/opfor/blufor/groups in play regularly. Please, check this to make sure the numbers do not go out of bounds (over 100). Also included are two player actions called "pos" and "posatl". These will create lines in the gamelog telling your position, or position/ATL height/orientation. Again, this will be removed in the final release (if ever). If you find a spot that seems a perfect place to hide a stash, please use one of these commands (if it is not on the ground, use the latter) and send me the note. I will include your stash (if it is appropriate) in a later release in a planned feature. RECOMMENDED MODS My "skymod" mod really, really adds to the atmosphere, plus the weather system is designed around it. Highly suggested you use it, especially as the low clouds (which the mod removes) crap up when in fast time (which is activated at 8x in this mod). Also highly suggested is ASR_AI, RWS, and blastcore. The immersion you will get from the latter two (hearing weapon reports all around you at 800m+, seeing smoke, etc all around) really add to this scenario. PLANNED FEATURES, WRAP-UP I had a lot planned, but hey, I'm unlikely to get around to any of it. I might alter the spawning so it ramps up more and starts easier, because as-is the starts can be brutal and short. THANKS Huge thanks to the FDF guys for Podagorsk. There's a reason I chose it: it's an amazing map (and the perfect size). Also huge thanks to Charon for his Undead Mod. Obviously, this wouldn't exist without it, and he did a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of the content you'll see, even if his team wasn't included in this mod/scenario at all. Thanks to SchnapsdroSel and Rockhount for their included mods (Desert Mercenaries and Blackops, the Fog Script), they added a lot of immersion to this, again without any direct involvement though. If I forgot an included mod, let me know! The creation process for this has been quite long and drawn out over a few different periods, so my memory isn't perfect. Current bugs: None Current "glitches": - A random "out of memory error" after 3-4 hours of gameplay (unfixable) - A civ OPFOR squad spawned without weapons once (fluke?) Planned features: - ramping up the AI level over time (or by player weapon) so it's not so impossible at the start

Hey guys, I've got a pretty involved sandbox scenario featuring this mod that needs some testing (there's a ton of features). Anyone interested? (Very) Quick look at the features: Dynamic zombie/opfor/blufor spawns throughout southern Podagorsk that change between night/day and shift randomly in number throughout both periods. Dynamic and randomized city zombie spawns when in range of a major area. Dynamic weather system that changes its probabilities throughout the day. Dynamic mission creation (limited for now). Fog system that settles in at night (from Fog Script by Rockhount). Health FX system for deteriorated health. Sleeping bag. 100+ random ammo crate spawns throughout the map (look in houses/backyards/buildings), each with randomized sets of weapons/supplies. Hunger and thirst systems. Sleep ability (includes healing). Radio options. Heavily customizable and commented init.sqf variables for those so inclined. Randomized start. Survivalist approach. Fuel siphoning for use in vehicles. Requires this and the Desert Mercs and Black Ops mod. Still in beta without much to go on for missions, but that's the next step. I need help testing the sandbox that I'm building the missions on top of.

Is there any way to edit the smoke grenade effects so that they rise and fall with the landscape (like, Z value equals what it would before, but in ATL rather than ASL)? As is, smoke just sort of gets absorbed by hills rather than rolling up and down them. Well, rather than measuring it in ATL, just put an ATL floor on the Z value).

This is certainly the simplest solution. It's even in the wiki example for alldead:{ deleteVehicle _x } forEach allDead; To make it continual, just throw it into a while-do loop like this: while {true} do {{if (_x isKindOf "Man") then {deleteVehicle _x}} forEach allDead; sleep 1; }:

So, this thing constantly loses the connection, even when it says it's connected. I don't know how much time I've wasted over lost data like that: it exports, then it fails to export. It exports, then it loses the data. It exports, then I go to merge the data and it loses the data. Hours of lost work because of this. Program needs fixing. ---------- Post added at 12:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:29 AM ---------- Oh, and the lovely: it only exports half of what's selected.

Yes, I have not noticed anything too bad. Since I disabled it on the fast-movers which get their own non-module spawns, I think it will be okay. Now, to nightspawn 50 infected to wander my island aimlessly searching and killing anything alive during the dark, NVGless nights.

Yeah, it's a basic Arma2 mod with Arma2 units, you need CO. Find another $15 or forgetaboutit :( I'm sure you can find a used copy for much cheaper than that. Chernarus is beautiful, and the Arma2 campaign is pretty interesting and long, so I'd say it's worth it. Plus, most MP uses CO (ArmA2+OA), so you get access to that also.

dostop then domove to the position of currentwaypoint?

foglist = ["a","a_1"]; for [{i=2},{i < 99},{i = i +1}] do {foglist = foglist + ["a_i"]; }; then a {}foreach foglist; that requires input like this "var". I can get the foreach to work without the for/do, but the for/do messes everything up (including the original two variables).

Question: is there any way to add a line to the init of every zombie spawned? I want to run the Zeus mod but am worried about compatibility with the zombies' AI, so I want to put the "disable Zeus AI" line in each zombie init. I put it in the manually-created infected groups' inits, but I don't know how to add it to the scripted zombies. Maybe it won't matter, but I get the feeling it will.

nm, dunno ---------- Post added at 11:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:54 AM ---------- Maybe you have a savegame for the mission or something? Maybe delete any saves in your mydocuments area?

Some scripts I made for dynamic task generation. I will post them here, why not? It should be assumed that they are sloppy. posBravo0 = getPos blu0; posBravo1 = getPos blu1; scopeName "name"; while {true} do { if (!(alive blu1)) then { while {alive blu0} do { posBravo0 = getPos blu0; sleep 600; }; tskBravo = player createSimpleTask ["Locate Team Bravo"]; tskBravo setSimpleTaskDescription ["We've lost contact with Bravo. Search the coordinates of their last known position, and see what has happened to them.", "Find Bravo", "Find Bravo"]; tskBravo setSimpleTaskDestination (posBravo0); cutText ["NEW FRAGO: Locate Bravo","PLAIN DOWN",0.5]; tskbravo setTaskState "Assigned"; execVM "tskbravorem0.sqf"; sleep 3600; breakTo "name"; }; if (!(alive blu0)) then { while {alive blu1} do { posBravo1 = getPos blu1; sleep 600; }; tskBravo = player createSimpleTask ["Locate Team Bravo"]; tskBravo setSimpleTaskDescription ["We've lost contact with Bravo. Search the coordinates of their last known position, and see what has happened to them.", "Find Bravo", "Find Bravo"]; tskBravo setSimpleTaskDestination (posBravo1); cutText ["NEW FRAGO: Locate Bravo","PLAIN DOWN",0.5]; tskbravo setTaskState "Assigned"; execVM "tskbravorem1.sqf"; sleep 3600; breakTo "name"; }; posBravo0 = getPos blu0; posBravo1 = getPos blu1; sleep 600; }; This is supposed to generate a task when a two man team has completely died. It will not generate a task when only one has died. The script "tracks" the surviving member with a call every 10 minutes (shorter is probably better, adjust the first sleep command to change the length of the "locstats"). If on the next expected reporting in both members are down, then you get a mission to find the missing squad (or just the sole man) with only the information of his last reporting in to go on. You could always add a marker to the player's map at the second-to-last reporting in or at his next assigned waypoint if you like. It might help (I think I will do that later). Choose which based on what works best. Then, you run one of two scripts (although it could be just one script with multiple parts or whatever, but like I said, sloppy). Here is one of them. Basically, you have 1 hour to find the missing man/squad, which is determined by whether you walk within 5m of them. It has two parts to it, so that it is only called once every 10 seconds while the player is far away to save on overhead, then updating once every second when the player gets within 100m. Maybe this is unnecessary, I don't know. Just trying out some optimizations. _a = 0; while {_a = _a + 1;_a < 1800;} do { if ((player distance blu0) < 100) then { if ((player distance blu0) < 5) then { cutText ["TASK COMPLETED: Locate Bravo","PLAIN DOWN",0.5]; tskbravo setTaskState "Succeeded"; }; sleep 1; }; sleep 10; }; cutText ["TASK CANCELLED: Locate Bravo","PLAIN DOWN",0.5]; tskbravo setTaskState "Failed"; I just made a small edit, so maybe it doesn't work now :rolleyes: but it was working fine before. I'll test it later for sure. ---------- Post added at 11:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 AM ---------- Here is another, also meant for a longer, dynamic game (or just if you want to hunt a Colonel in the wild). The point of this is for you to get a mission to hunt down any "high value targets". This could be a Major or just some Sargent who has killed a lot of Majors. I am still beta testing it, but it has worked so far. Not a real milsim sort of script (at least not in the text), but adaptable for it. a=2; scopename "start"; a=a-1; while {a>0} do { { if ((rating _x) > 4200) then { joe = _x; if (side _x == east) then { cutText ["NEW MISSION: Kill the Russian","PLAIN DOWN",0.5]; tskhivalue = player createSimpleTask ["Kill the Notorious Russian"]; tskhivalue setSimpleTaskDescription ["This guy is bad, real bad. He's killed a ton of our men and others. He's a threat, simple as that, and a threat that needs to be taken out. Find him, kill him. Good hunting.","Kill Russian", "Kill Russian"]; tskhivalue setSimpleTaskDestination (getpos _x); [joe,0] execVM "tsktarget1.sqf"; [joe,0] execVM "tsktarget2.sqf"; breakto "start"; }; if (side _x == resistance) then { cutText ["NEW MISSION: Kill the Guerrilla","PLAIN DOWN",0.5]; tskhivalue = player createSimpleTask ["Kill the Notorious Guerrilla"]; tskhivalue setSimpleTaskDescription ["This guy is bad, real bad. He's killed a ton of our men and others. He's a threat, simple as that, and a threat that needs to be taken out. Find him, kill him. Good hunting.","Kill Guerrilla", "Kill Guerrilla"]; tskhivalue setSimpleTaskDestination (getpos _x); [joe,1] execVM "tsktarget1.sqf"; [joe,1] execVM "tsktarget2.sqf"; breakto "start"; }; }; } foreach allunits; sleep 300; }; Simple enough, I guess. Then it opens two new scripts. The first I show runs a regular check of whether you killed him or not. Since I could not find an actual command that is usable, I had to make an indirect sort of workaround by regularly checking the player's rating. If the guy dies (and they're all team leaders or snipers in my mission; if you think a rifleman might also be used, lower the player score increase to under 200, 1 might be enough), you then check to see if the player's score jumped over the same period by a high amount (indicates that player killed a high value target). If so, you succeed, if not, you fail. Some false negs/positives, of course, but on the whole it should work. Two sets of if-thens for both sides: indies and ruskies. a = 2; scopename "start"; a = a -1; s = _this select 1; while {a > 0} do { playerrating = rating player; sleep 1; if (!(alive (_this select 0))) then { if ((playerrating + 499) < (rating player)) then { if (s == 0) then { cutText ["TASK COMPLETED: Kill the Notorious Russian","PLAIN DOWN",0.5]; tskhivalue setTaskState "Succeeded"; breakto "start"; }; if (s == 1) then { cutText ["TASK COMPLETED: Kill the Notorious Guerrilla","PLAIN DOWN",0.5]; tskhivalue setTaskState "Succeeded"; breakto "start"; }; }; cutText ["TASK CANCELED: Kill the Notorious Man","PLAIN DOWN",0.5]; tskhivalue setTaskState "Canceled"; sleep 5; }; }; (loopable here by running the first script again, but you need to create a incrementing script that creates a new task like: start the first script with "c=0;" and change the appropriate lines to something like format [tskhivalue%1,c] createsimpletask... etc, etc, maybe?) This second script just updates the guy's position every so often so you're not wandering Chernarus or whatever with absolutely no help. Again, updating faster can help as 5-15min can be a long tail. Still, if you like hunting the wiliest of game... it's a fun bit of hide and seek :D while {alive (_this select 0)} do { where = getpos (_this select 0); sleep 30; hint "We've got a new lead on that 'problem', check your map for an update."; tskhivalue setSimpleTaskDestination (where); sleep (300 + random 300); }; ---------- Post added at 11:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:40 AM ---------- If anyone wants to, they're free to use. Credit where it's due, whatever. They can be done better than this, and maybe they have been already. Just figured I'd share my learning process results is all. Comment on sloppiness is appreciated.

Yes, now I know. It's just every time I saw it used in an example or something, people put the [] before it for some reason.